- [Host] These types of shots I feel like they always look really good through the viewfinder but then when you get home, sometimes I just can't make it look good.

- Sometimes for landscape photographers the search for perfection can be exhausting.

- [Daniel] Took a little bit of scrambling to get up these rocks and not something I do every day, but hopefully I can get a good shot out of it.

- [Host] For Daniel Chui, getting a good shot is a gift that comes naturally.

Like the millions that come to Yosemite National Park every year, Daniel was drawn to this part of California to capture images of Yosemite.

Valley's iconic beauty.

- What we do have is a beautiful amount of water coming down today.

- [Host] But the Bay Area native fell in love with everything that surrounds Yosemite too.

What speaks to you about this place?

- [Daniel] Well, that's what's interesting.

when you're coming here as an outsider, right?

You don't have any idea of how much awesome there is around here.

- [Host] The awesome Daniel is talking about is something we've known for a long time because this is where Dave, Zach, and I all grew up.

Oakhurst is a small town on the southern entrance to one of the world's top national parks and has become a mecca for artists of all kinds.

But still photography is booming here.

And recently ordained local Daniel Chui and his wife, Linda are leading a new movement in this tight-knit mountain town to celebrate the places they love through a passion for landscape photography.

- I did wedding photography and portrait work before.

So I've directed people on how to look.

Whether to look at the camera.

When to look at the camera.

Stuff like that.

But I haven't been on the other side of the camera.

- [Host] I've become a fan of Daniel's work following his travels on Facebook and reached out to see if we could follow him around in action.

- I have a lot of respect for what you guys do because you have to do it with all your friends.

I only have to deal with one friend.

- [Host] We caught up with Daniel on the shores of Bass Lake that inspired a walk down memory lane for David and me.

- This little spot was very special to me when I was a kid.

This was one of our favorite little spots to hang out.

- [Host] This episode is a love letter to landscape photographers everywhere.

No matter what skill level or gear you shoot with.

The world is a beautiful place and this little corner of California is solid gold for grabbing images like this.

And people like Daniel are inspiring a new creative outlet for many.

They call these mountains home.

- [Daniel] Oh, my wife will kill me when she sees me.

If she sees me lying down.

- [Host] Why?

- Oh, shoot.

She hates that I, you know - [Host] Get dirty?

- Yeah.

- [Host] Well that's part of being an outdoor photographer.

- It is, it is.

She just assumes that I've - [Host] Been laying in goose poop all afternoon?

- Yes, exactly.

- [Host] When you travel, the world becomes a smaller place.

When you explore with friends that share a love of photography, destinations come to life.

- This water is emerald green.

- [Host] We tell the stories and travel with our cameras, capturing some of the most beautiful locations on earth.

But every adventure reveals more than what's in the frame.

- Thunder boomers.

- We see them popping up right now.

- [Host] The people, the food, and unexpected turns in the journey - [Boater] Now they're gonna swim right here.

brings the full experience of travel into focus.

- [Announcer] Outside Beyond the Lens, brought to you by Visit Fresno County.

Nature, diversity found in the heart of California's Central Valley.

Stay in Fresno or Clovis and drive to three nearby national parks.

By Hendrick's Chevrolet, supporting the spirit of travel in each of us.

Every journey has a first step.

Start your next adventure here.

By Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

Rediscover your love for travel.

With more options, more flights, more connecting you to the people and the places you love.

And by Visit Yosemite Madera County, California's gateway to Yosemite National Park.

Explore the outdoor magic of Madera County and be inspired to discover more.

And by viewers like you - [David]} Showing around seven peaking right up over there.

- [Host] Sunrise at seven, just over the hill there.

Over the Whiskey Ridge.

- Yep.

(Indistinct) paw kind of the left side.

- [Host] Second paw more of the left side of that.

We're at the Way-of-the-Mono Trailhead right now waiting for Daniel to get here.

I told him 5:30, which might've been a little too early.

Sunrise is not 5:30.

On a cold morning in February, I asked Daniel Chui to meet David Boomer and I on the shores of Bass Lake, California.

Daniel has become something of a local legend in this area, known for his stunning landscape photography and insightful social media posts.

Both of which I have become a big fan of myself.

I asked him to meet us at the Way-of-The- Mono Trailhead at 5:30 AM.

So we could shoot the sunrise together over the lake.

Daniel knew the sun didn't rise until seven.

Now, what's your plan for today?

What do you think you're gonna keep?

- Well, hopefully I'll see some bald eagles.

I think that might be my friend Larry over there.

He's a local bald eagle specialist.

Morning.

And yeah, hopefully.

I don't know.

Most of the times I don't get anything, but you know.

You're not gonna get anything unless you're here trying.

I've got my best shots from a boat and not from land.

- [Host] Yeah, that's true.

- But it's fun.

I could spend hours just enjoying the lake and not get any shots at all.

- [Host] Daniel is a soft-spoken, kindhearted soul, with a quiet confidence that comes from someone that is aware they have a gift, but don't feel it necessary to advertise their talents loudly.

For Daniel, the frames he captures do the talking.

- [Daniel] You know, I'm from the Bay Area and happened to live next to this wildlife refuge called Coyote Hills Regional Park.

And that place has everything.

You go there and I see, I really enjoy photographing raptors.

So when I go out there, I see kestrel.

I see red-tailed hawk.

I see all kinds of all kinds of birds.

Also harriers, yeah.

- [Host] I loved watching the harriers.

- [Daniel] Yeah.

They're beautiful.

I saw a Gray Ghost Harrier the other day and I got a shot of that as well.

- [Host] How long have you been in the area?

- Well, I've been in the area since 2018.

Yeah, May, 2018.

We bought the house.

It was the same year I got married with my wife, Linda.

And also the same year I lost my job.

So I lost my job pretty close to when we bought the house.

So it was pretty scary.

- [Host] That's some stressful times right there.

- Yeah, yeah.

But we decided, Hey, we really wanted this house and we got it.

And it's been a blessing Obviously, Yosemite's close.

- Yeah But what do you love?

What speaks to you about this place?

- [Daniel] Well, that's what's interesting.

When you're coming here as an outsider, right?

You don't have any idea of how much awesome there is around here.

When I came here and we decided, "Okay, let's buy a house."

Even in our heads, we don't have an Oakhust house.

We have a, like, at that point, right?

We didn't have an Oakhust house.

We had a Yosemite house, right?

Because when you're an outsider, what you know about this area is Yosemite, right?

But after I came here and especially after I started interacting with people from the community, from here, from Oakhurst.

I realized like, "Wow, every single road has its has this like local charm or things that people like photographing or things that people appreciate.

Bass Lake is endlessly beautiful at different times a year.

I mean, I love finding trails and just hiking around.

Seeing what there is to see.

I took a trail.

There's the Way-of-the-Mono trail.

It goes up to these nice rock granite bluffs up there.

- [Host] Now I'm gonna help you with something.

- Oh, mono.

- [Host] There you go.

- Mono, mono.

- [Host] That's right.

- Yeah, - [Host] Mono is a disease you catch.

Mono is the Native American tribe that used to live here.

- Yeah, mono.

- [Host] Exactly.

Today, Daniel works in the medical device industry and splits his time between the Bay Area and Oakhurst.

The big tourism draw to this part of Central California is one of America's top national parks, Yosemite.

Summer months are when the big crowds roll in and Yosemite Valley is where most of the 4,000,000 visitors a year end up and for good reason.

The glacially carved granite cliffs, some thousands of feet high, frame one of the most scenically, stunning places on earth.

Some of the valley's features have become literal rock stars.

Like the iconic Half Dome that backstops Yosemite Valley's eastern end.

El Capitan is a monolithic granite wall made famous for its challenging rock climbing routes.

But every winter El Cap draws another more ground-based crowd.

Eager to capture a shot of an event that only happens during a short window each year.

Horsetail Fall is a small cascade on El Capitan's eastern edge, and only flows during winter.

And only if there's melting snow on the north rim.

In mid to late February, if the skies are clear and the falls are flowing, the setting sun backlights Horsetail Fall creating a rare photographic opportunity that draws hundreds of landscape photographers to Yosemite Valley every winter.

This particular point on the valley floor that most photographers think is the best, and seemingly only place to grab a shot of Horsetail Fall gets so busy, park rangers have to do special traffic control to manage the crowds.

But where Daniel is headed to shoot Horsetail Fall today, the hike and the terrain do a pretty good job of thinning out the herd.

- These are my micro spikes.

They help me walk on snow and it's not a big snowy part, but these are pretty quick to get on.

- [Host] There's one.

- Oh yeah.

It's good that they have - This is our (indistinct) - It is.

Yeah, are you alone?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Yeah, you can come if you want.

It's a bit of an adventure.

we're - [Host] We're shooting part of a show.

So if you don't mind being on camera.

- Okay.

- [Host] Daniel is the kind of person that makes fast friends especially with those who share his passion for photography and getting away from the crowds.

- Maria.

- Maria.

- Yes.

- Cool, I'm Daniel.

- Nice to meet you.

- Pleasure.

- [Host] The plan for today is to get up off the valley floor and line up a shot of Horsetail Fall that isn't taken from the photo mob point down below.

He's hoping the extra effort of scrambling over large rocks and climbing up the south wall of Yosemite Valley pays off.

- Well, we're near the four mile trail.

We can say that.

Yeah, very close.

And took a little bit of scrambling to get up these rocks and not something I do every day, but hopefully I can get a good shot out of it.

Yeah.

I'm getting my composition right.

You know landscape photography is a little boring sometimes in that aspect because you just set up your composition and just wait for the light to change.

Well, basically it's got the valley.

It's got Horsetail Fall, which is the star of the show right now, which is people call it the Firefall.

The Firefall was traditionally off of Glacier Point and they would light a huge conflagration and then push it over the edge.

And I think they would yell it Firefall.

And that was the original Firefall.

These days people when they talk about Firefall, they're usually talking about Horsetail Fall.

And I'm just trying to get a shot of this beautiful valley framed by the trees.

And hopefully we'll get some clouds rolling in, but it looks doubtful.

Well, what we do have as a beautiful amount of water coming down today.

So I'm hopeful we'll get that effect, but I don't know whether the rest of the frame is gonna be interesting.

We'll see.

(guitar music) ♪ Over hill, ♪ ♪ By the beauty of your life ♪ ♪ I have seen ♪ ♪ A miracle ♪ ♪ I have seen ♪ ♪ A miracle.

♪ - Oh, my wife will kill me when she sees me.

She sees me lying down.

- [Host] Why?

- Oh, shoot.

She hates that I, you know.

- [Host] Get dirty?

- Yeah.

- [Host] Well that's part of being an outdoor photographer.

- It is, it is.

So she comes home, she doesn't let me sit on the couch, right?

She just assumes that I've that I'm - [Host] Been laying on goose poop all afternoon?

- Yes, exactly.

Which is fair.

- [Host] Which is fair.

- Yeah.

yeah.

My wife she's actually my artistic inspiration and artistic director.

- [Host] Oh, is that right?

- Yeah.

- [Host] Now does she have just a good eye for composition?

- [Daniel] Yeah.

- [Host] Or does she shoot herself?

- [Daniel] She doesn't shoot herself, but she's got a great eye for composition and she used to do painting.

Well, she still does painting.

And so a lot of times she'll take a crop of something that I worked on and she'll say "I'll crop it this way."

And my tendency is to always say, "No you're wrong."

at first, but then I'll play around with it a couple, you know, for maybe a day later and then see that she was right and then take credit for it myself.

- [Host] How long you been married, Daniel?

- About two years.

- [Host] You got a lot to learn.

- Yeah.

I know, I know.

(laughter) Yeah When I'm shooting landscapes, I'll usually use the two second timer.

That's a tip I give to anybody who wants to do a landscape photography.

Either use a remote release or a two-second timer.

- [Host] And the reason for that is I'm guessing, you probably don't want camera shake.

- Exactly.

Yeah.

Camera shake makes such a big difference in image quality.

- [Host] Oh.

yeah.

- And that's something that people could apply even to their iPhone photography.

- [Host] That's true, you know.

You're right about that.

Using the timer on the iPhone really cleans up the pictures a lot.

- [Daniel] Yeah.

- [Host] Even if it's a static shot of a landscape.

- Exactly.

- [Host] I hadn't been back to Bass Lake in a long time.

So spending the morning here with Daniel and David Boomer was really nice for me.

It brought back all those great childhood memories of growing up here and exploring the nearby forests with friends.

David and I took a short drive up to Goat Mountain, just above Bass Lake to see if we could find a spot that was a really big deal to us as kids.

A secret little waterfall that we were certain no one else on earth ever knew about.

In my ten-year-old mind, it was a massive cascade with giant moss line pools.

We would explore around back in the days before cell phones and wifi.

Finding it after 40 plus years was now going to be the challenge.

Especially after a strong wind storm hit this area recently, knocking trees down everywhere.

Closing in on our spot here.

The spot I remember playing when I was a kid.

The secret waterfall, we used to call it.

A little bit of water in the creek, which is nice.

We wanted to see that.

More of a cascade than a waterfall really.

But, right in here, you can see this is all berries that are kind of matted down right now.

They haven't really popped up from winter.

There's the waterfall.

There's the cascade.

It's actually pretty.

It's actually much like I remember it.

You never came here with your cousin or anything.

- I don't think so.

We stomped all over here with Eric and Mike and - [Host] Yeah.

- And you guys, but I don't recall - [Host] Never saw this.

- Nahuh.

- [Host] Yeah, this is a cool spot.

All right.

Let's it's a little goopy in here.

Dave's making his way up the log.

It's kinda tricky in here.

It's not an easy hike.

There's no trail.

And it's kind of wet and slippery right now.

What is it, into February?

- Yep.

- It's been raining a little bit, but this is it.

This is what I wanted to share with everybody.

This little spot was very special to me when I was a kid.

We're talking like eight, nine, 10 years old.

We used to hike in here just us kids.

Used to run all over these mountains with no parents helicoptering around worrying about where we were.

And this was one of our favorite little spots to hang out.

Like Daniel said earlier, there's all kinds of awesome in these mountains around Yosemite National Park.

And now, inspired by Daniel's love of photography, many of the locals here are following his footsteps to express their love of this place through photographs.

With the sun now backlighting the icy mist of Horsetail Fall, as it gently slips over the Eastern edge of El Capitan, Daniel and his fellow photographers begin to capture frames of the moment.

The hard work of climbing to this vantage point, away from the crowds pays off.

And another stunning frame of a Yosemite landscqpe is memorialized through Daniel's lens.

- [Daniel] For me like, okay, it's nice when people say like, "Oh, beautiful shot."

But that's not the motivation though.

I'd rather people go out and see this stuff for themselves.

And maybe they take some iPhone photos and upload their iPhone photos.

And now everyone's sharing.

Not only that, but this Oakhurst area group, that Facebook group, they give me the ideas for where to go.

- [Host] Yeah.

So I've tried to kind of crowdsource a lot of this knowledge stuff.

Yeah.

I could Google it, right?

I could Google it.

But what cooler thing than asking local people, "What are the good adventures nearby?"

I'm not an expert.

I don't know anything about this area, pretty much.

Right?

But people are experts.

And then they give me that information.

I go out and take photos.

- [Host] Another day in Yosemite Valley.

Another chance to grab a frame that might be the one that tops them all.

And that's really the drive of a landscape photographer.

To be in the right spot, at the right time, with light and land and camera all in tune at the exact moment the shutter is released.

- [Daniel] I wanna go to Columbia Rock which is on the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail.

I've never been there.

And yeah, just trying to get to know all these hikes.

I did part of Four Mile Trail the other day and it was really rewarding.

And I'm seeing that it can really open up a lot of doors to actually get off the valley floor.

Yeah, that's what I wanna do today and just see what the views are like.

Maybe I'll be up there at sunset one day or sunrise one day and it'll be perfect.

- [Host] Perfect is a subjective word.

The beauty we each see in the same setting is relative to the places we've traveled to before.

Contrasts that can only be seen through a lens only we can focus.

The exception is when a person like Daniel Chui shares their ability to see a picture in their mind before it's taken.

And captures that vision in a single frame that adds to our appreciation of wild landscapes and becomes a gift for us all - [Announcer]} Outside Beyond The Lens, brought to you by Visit Fresno County.

Nature diversity found in the heart of California Central Valley.

Stay in Fresno or Clovis and drive to three nearby national parks.

By Hendrick's Chevrolet, supporting the spirit of travel in each of us.

Every journey has a first step.

Start your next adventure here.

By Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

Rediscover your love for travel with more options.

More flights.

More connecting you to the people and the places you love.

And by Visit Yosemite Madera County, California's gateway to Yosemite National Park.

Explore the outdoor magic of Madera County and be inspired to discover more.

And by viewers like you.